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National Opt-Out Day Against Virtual Strip Searches
An anonymous reader writes in about a protest called for the busiest airline travel day of the year. "An activist opposed to the new invasive body scanners in use at airports around the country just designated Wednesday, Nov. 24 as a National Opt-Out Day. He's encouraging airline passengers to decline the TSA's technological strip searches en masse on that day as a protest against the scanners, as well as the new 'enhanced pat-downs' inflicted on refuseniks. 'The goal of National Opt-Out Day is to send a message to our lawmakers that we demand change,' reads the call to action at OptOutDay.com, set up by Brian Sodegren. 'No naked body scanners, no government-approved groping. We have a right to privacy, and buying a plane ticket should not mean that we're guilty until proven innocent.' The US Airline Pilots Association and other pilot groups have urged their members to avoid the scanners and have also condemned the new pat-down policy as humiliating to pilots. They've advised pilots who don't feel comfortable undergoing pat-downs in front of passengers to request they be conducted in a private room. Any pilots who don't feel comfortable after undergoing a pat-down have been encouraged to 'call in sick and remove themselves from the trip.'"
I wonder how well this would've gone over in October 2001. We haven't had a genuine terror attack in a long time, so people start getting indignant about security again. Do we really need to have another international calamity for us to start respecting laws that were put in place to keep us safe?
I have friends on both sides of the political spectrum, far to the left and far to the right. Everyone can (and should) agree that this is a gross violation of privacy and should not be tolerated. The only people that I have heard even come close to defending this procedure are the faux conservatives that put "security" (read: invading the privacy of citizens to expand the power of the state) over liberty.
Social Engineering Expert: Because there is no patch for stupidity.
and take off your belt while going through the scanner, my plan is to wear loose pants and go commando.
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Any pilots who don't feel comfortable after undergoing a pat-down have been encouraged to 'call in sick and remove themselves from the trip
An uncomfortable pilot is a distracted pilot. As a passenger I put my full trust in the folk up front to do their job safely and efficiently and I'd rather they weren't getting distracted. It's not like they need any extra tools or equipment to crash a plane.
This article by Jeffrey Goldberg is both sad, hilarious, and informative. http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/10/for-the-first-time-the-tsa-meets-resistance/65390/ "We have to search up your thighs and between your legs until we meet resistance," he explained. "Resistance?" I asked. "Your testicles," he explained. "That's funny," I said, "because 'The Resistance' is the actual name I've given to my testicles."
Why just do this on one day only when you can make this your default choice? I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to cancer. And I dont much like being treated like a naughty child by the TSA or whoever either.
Those who can, do. Those who cannot, sue.
Am I cynical to think that the government will want to paint this as inciting an act of terrorism?* I'm just hoping that Joe Public isn't that stupid. Yet.
* I imagine that such a protest will cause the system to slow to a crawl, harming the law abiding citizen's ability to travel or somesuch.
Don't take the above poster too seriously. He doesn't.
Most people have a "grab there, get hit" policy (well, less formally acknowledged than that) in their daily lives. I don't think there'd be too much fuss if people applied it to the manual search.
"Welcome to our world. We are the wasted youth. And we are the future too." Yes, I know these are stupid lyrics.
Opting out of the body scanner is opting in to the invasive pat-down. "Opting out" merely validates the false dichotomy put forth by the TSA.
Trying to annoy the TSA for a day will do absolutely nothing. If you want to end these policies, refuse to fly until they're gone. If airlines see their bank accounts turn red with no hope of them being profitable unless the TSA is removed, you better believe they'll start doing everything imaginable to get rid of the TSA.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
This is a prime example of where "if you do nothing wrong; then you have nothing to worry about" is shown to be bullshit.
These airport scanners and pat downs dishonor our troops and everyone who has ever died fighting for our country!
We are supposed to be the home of the free and the brave, let's act like it! The Europeans don't do this. They don't even allow the scanners! Are they braver and more free than we are?! It sure looks like it!
I think everyone on both sides can agree, this is just too much!
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovyKogICCkQ&feature=player_embedded
imagine that?
Also known as "National Get-Added-To-The-No-Fly-List Day"
People from simply removing all of their clothing when they are "hand searched"? Or demanding that a LEO be present at the search? Or demanding that the search be video'd? If the search is "public", then can someone tape it? Or getting the name of the employees who search you?
By the way, where did that 'bagger come from from up thread? What a parrot.... Prove a negative, indeed....
Republican leadership = Idiocracy
AHAHAHAHAHAHAH
You americans crackle me right up.
As much as this is so very much needed in the U.S., and other countries that practice this farce of security, in reality I doubt the call to refuse won't be in the minds of the majority that only think of getting to point B. I'm sure that the powers that be realize this and know that is what is going through most peoples minds as they get ready to board a plane. "Gotta get to point B, no matter what the cost or seemingly minor inconvenience of the loss privacy.". If it was me, and I was a U.S. citizen, I would be having all sorts of fun making their job as unpleasant as possible. Soon as they start screaming "Opt-out!!", I'd do that too. "Hey everybody I'm an opt-out! I'M AN OPT-OUT! Look at me, I don't want to go through the scanner!" As a man, I'd ask for a woman to pat me down. I know how well that will go over with the goons. So, I'd probably get a guy. Since he's going to be touching me in places he shouldn't may as well ask him to milk my prostate while he's at it. Make it more uncomfortable for him than it is for me. Just some suggestions for those who have to go through this bullshit.
I bet there won't be more than 5% that refuse the scanners, and insist or refuse the pat down. Any takers? Place your bets now as to the % of people who refuse scanners
It'd be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
I'm a student. I write iPhone apps.
While opting out of the security procedures set forth by TSA may send a message, all it says that we don't like our goodies being shown or handled in public. Not flying at all would send a bigger message, that we'd rather not fly than be subjected to these procedures.
I wouldn't hold my breath on either. For every person that opts out, there's plenty more that will put up with it in order to get to their destination on schedule.
Want to get the TSA screeners begging to get the policy changed? Have as many people as possible ask for the pat down and act like they're enjoying it when the agent gets to the "right spots". Might as well make them as uncomfortable as they're making everyone else. Just don't move much or do anything to prevent the pat-down.Nothing wrong with a few involuntary sounds, right?
While I can understand the continued harassment of passengers via new policies and procedures is indeed getting out of hand, the fastest way to the corner of History Ave. and Repeats St. is to go back to how things were before.
I'd just like to point out that the last post of yours that got down-moderated was a "The State knows best" - type post, which is probably more associated with the Far Left than the Right. My own feeling is that Slashdot moderators tend towards individual responsibility and freedom from excessive regulation, rather than any right/left dichotomy. And really, what do you expect of people most of whom have built their careers on the Internet? That's exactly the attitude you would expect.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
they'll hit us up for some more bail out money because everyone knows in Corporate America companies can capitalize the profits and socialize the losses.
This will do about as good as refusing to buy music from the RIAA, you're a pirate no matter how primly you refuse to buy their products or download their albums.
Have a Virgin Mobile USA smartphone? Give VMRoms.com a try!
There will be special tours to watch pat-down in US airports. Complete with actresses in Sailor Moon outfits undergoing pat-down with eye rolling, blushing and moaning before videorecording tourists.
Not flying for one day won't change shit.. Not flying until they change the rules won't change shit. You think it'll bankrupt the airlines into removing these? They'll just get bailed out by the government with non-existent tax money, find another excuse for the shortage of profit, or - guess what? - wait a few months and return to normal as if nothing happened because - with all due respect - UK people are such gullible hypocrites that just can't change or voice shit...
Seriously, you really think we can change anything in the UK if the government or some higher power has its mind set ? Get real... or get some pipe bombs, AK47's, and make your point the same way the French do..
When traveling this holiday season, opt out of any porn scanners. Opt out LOUDLY. Say “I OPT OUT” while you smile at the nearest TSA agent. Be polite and move on to step two, the Pat Down. Getting a hand pat down. Teach your children to shout LOUDLY, “STOP TOUCHING ME in a SEXUAL MANNER!”. Adults shout LOUDLY, “Stop TOUCHING ME in a SEXUAL MANNER!”. Smile and be polite as you do this. Children are allowed and encouraged to cry. Video the whole escapade with sound and as clearly as possible. Post to youtube.com Behold the power of the Internet. Game on Janet!
One commercial airliner spiralling into the ocean, or worse, into a civilian target, will pop them into line quick-smart, and won't hear about their violated rights again to the end of their self-centred days.
...and those providing that service, and security, can put whatever restrictions on you. So you either take the scan, or the patdown, or you don't fly, and that's that. I don't have a problem with it. If you do, get on the bus, or in your car, and drive. If going overseas, get on the boat, and take weeks getting to where you wanna go.
You have choices in all ways that you travel, some people just don't like the alternatives and would rather blame airport security.
I think I'll start manufacturing a line of undergarments that have metal threads woven into them with sayings like "I do not consent to invasive searches", "TSA scanners are a violation of my 4th Amendment rights", etc.
I wonder what the TSA response would be if they started seeing people wearing underwear, etc. that effectively blocked the scanners from seeing ones "naughty bits" and possibly also included slogans like these?
Can you believe the various authorities actually *force* engineers to build safety margins into aircraft? And *force* aircraft to take off with enough fuel to make alternate landing sites? Can you imagine the humiliation?
When did sitting in a thin metal tube surrounded by barely controlled raging fires and flammable liquid whilst travelling thousands of miles at 30k feet become some kind of basic human right?
We're all allowed to fly without a pat-down, you just need to buy your own aircraft and get trained. One of the first things you'll be taught however, is that passengers are one of the most dangerous things on an aircraft. Even if they're not trying to take a plane down intentionally.
Personally, I would rather fly on an aircraft where I know that everybody, myself included, had been scanned. What about my rights?
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
pilots & flight crews go on strike, customers quit buying airline tickets, drive your own car, hit them where it hurts the most = in the wallet.
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
What if you just plan ahead before every flight, and try to get them to search you. When they finally start doing the enhanced pat-down, act like you're all into it and getting off. Maybe put some peanut butter in one pocket and jelly in another, so they get stuff all over their gloves.
1) Stop flying. I realize this may be hard, but in most cases it is possible. If it is truly impossible, like your work requires it, ok fine but then you just kinda have to roll with what happens. However for just about anyone else you can stop flying. Doesn't mean you can't vacation or visit family, just means you will have to drive. It'll work, really it will. When I was a kid, my parents almost always drove us out to the grandparents place because of cost. I didn't enjoy it, but it was fine.
2) Let the airlines know you have stopped flying, and why. You may have noticed the government thinks the airline industry is rather important. They have bailed them out in the past. This could be because they consider it of strategic importance, could be because the airlines have good lobbyists, etc. Whatever the reason or combination of reasons, they listen and that's what matters. So if you make it clear to them that you are refusing to fly because of the TSA, they'll take notice. One person won't do anything alone, but if more than a few do it, they'll care. Make sure to include things like your frequent flier number and dates you traveled last year so they know you do use their service, and can see you aren't.
3) Write your senators and representative and let them know you find this unacceptable, and that this is an issue that will decide your vote. Write a well reasoned letter explaining why this is not ok, and ask what they intend to do about it. You will very likely get a reply (from a staffer of course but it is still their position). Again, what one person says doesn't matter a whole lot but a bunch of people will make them take notice since politicians have to care about being reelected first and foremost and if their constituency is pissed, they have to deal with it. Goes double if they have pressure from the airlines as well.
4) Actually vote on it. If your representatives say "We think the TSA is fine we aren't doing anything," vote for their challenger. Perhaps when they are running even make a campaign contribution, doesn't have to be large $20 should suffice, along with a letter expressing your support for them so long as they will work to fix/get rid of the TSA.
You cannot expect change over night. However if people who are pissed off start doing this, change will come, one way or another. The TSA gets away with its stupidity due to apathy more or less. People just go along with their shit so it is an issue congress doesn't have to care about. If people tell congress it is a problem, then it will become a problem for congress.
Not only can you opt out of a full body scan, but you can also request a private screening room. It is your right! I am an airport employee, I would know.
You-all in the USofA may feel safe enough, and rejoice in twitting the functionaries paid to defend you, but we here over the briny somewhere to the East have every reason to be grateful that technology (yea, faulty 'an all) is being mobilised to protect us a bit. How else will you handle a bloke in a girlie yashmak, with a charge up the passage where the sun don't shine? Stop hating authority, start beating the enemy.
This change by the TSA was not to made to improve safety. The TSA has decided that these machines are cheaper than hiring the appropriate number and quality of employees and training them properly.
I don't see why there is a security check for pilots at all. I mean we want to carefully check their identity, we want to make sure that they are who they say they are of course. However after their ID has been established, they should be allowed to go on about their business with no more check. Why? Because such a check is totally worthless. Pilots have hands on the controls of the aircraft, they could crash it and kill all aboard if they wanted. Further, many of them have guns that they carry. Since 9/11 they have been allowed to get certified and have a gun in the cockpit. Many opt to because you get paid a bit extra if you do.
You have to trust the pilots, that is just how it goes. As such once you've identified them as the pilots who should be on the flight, other security checks are worthless.
That pilots are subject to the same arduous security checks as passengers just proves that it is security theater, and nothing that is really useful. They aren't concerned with actual security, just a theater that justifies their jobs, and that they like being the tough guys who get to be in charge.
Keeping what safe? A gaggle of meekly surrendering sheep, or a nation of free people?
Jeremy Clarkson could turn this into a new expression. The french being cheese-eating surrender monkeys, the americans are cheeseburger-eating surrender sheep :)
If we do not stand up against this, soon we'll all be expected to have anal searches performed before we can get on an airplane. When that fails to end the terrorism, we'll be forced to show up 18 hours before a flight and eat prunes. Boarding the aircraft will not be allowed until you defecate.
I've never been searched flying on private aircraft. Perhaps that's the answer?
The airports have been constitution-free zone for over a decade. Our failure to defend against the first incursion of our constitutional rights a decade ago has lead to this. If we're looking for someone to blame, we need not look further than the bathroom mirror... (Yeah, I lifted that from V for Vendetta)
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
This is not about security but about getting YOU used to the full police state. It doesn't have a DAMN thing to do with terrorism. IF terrorists REALLY wanted to have a HIGH body count, HIGH property damage all it would take is some well placed dynamite along the san andres fault. And half of California would fall into the ocean. Hijack planes, blow them up - PULEASSSSE! That is for government stooges to do to get you scared. Even the "underwear bomber" didn't have to go through security and was ESCORTED onto the plane by a government agent. Even the State Department ADMITTED they directed that he be allowed onto the plane. There were SEVERL witnesses to this including people who saw a man VIDEOTAPING the whole damn thing on the plane! Yeah this is all about terrorism - what a HUGE crock of SHIT!
Tyranny is in this land - and in the guise of fighting terrorists!
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
- James Madison
The Truth is a Virus!!!
The holiday traveller is focused on one thing only - making it home on time.
The geek and his causes are no more welcome an obstruction than the Hare Krishna.
The TSA has yet to catch a single terrorist before they attempted to commit a crime. Shoe-tosses, liquid bans, enhanced pat-downs, body scanners, and all the other reactive measures implemented by this agency ignore the simple fact that the FAA red teams still have no problems whatsoever to penetrate airport security zones at will. Why would a determined terrorist be any less able to do so?
Given that neither scanners nor pat downs can detect body-cavity contraband, the argument that terrorists cannot carry enough contraband into aircraft at this point to be dangerous is simply absurd. Plus, the TSA has not allocated any additional space to open up more parallel lines of entry into airports. So, all these scanners do is slow down the rate of passage to the point where massive security lines have become more inviting targets than aircraft themselves (Remember Rome/Vienna 1985?).
Lastly, please consider the very real situation in most airports where the so-called porno-scanners are regularly shut down during peak travel periods for the reasons given above. If it's that simple to bypass a scanner, then having the scanners there in the first place is completely pointless. Any terrorist worth his/her salt would simply observe the usual travel/security patterns and plan accordingly.
I always elect for a pat-down screening simply because I do not trust the statements made by the TSA re: the radiation levels being safe and some radiologists seem to agree. What I found particularly interesting in the context of one screening experience is the language used by the TSA - "opt-out". No, I didn't opt-out of security screening, I opted for an alternative screening procedure that is arguably safer since the gloves that the TSA folk wear are also tested for explosive residue. Language is important and the way the TSA is using it is contrary to what is actually going on.
Given the extremes that the TSA has gone to lie to the public (example: we don't save the pictures, except for the 35,000+ we sent to a private contractor), the arrogance that they treat the flying public with (the constant yelling at checkpoints), and the sheer ineffectiveness of the agency at meeting its objectives makes me conclude that the better approach is to scrap the agency, return its employees into the pools of privately-contracted companies that used to do airport security, and accept that 100% safety in flying is simply not possible.
Neal Boortz went through this a groping at the airport. He says TSA stands for Touching Sensitive Areas.
I really want to get a t-shirt made with this brilliant image:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/4/2009/12/odds-of-airborne-terror2.jpg
Unfortunately, this kind of rational analysis (of what a staggering waste of time and energy is our collective terrorist freak-out) will always be trumped by stupid panicky human emotion. Our policies have rarely been dictated by logic or evidence after all.
And here's where this moronic paranoia is headed:
http://cartoonnewsmagazine.com/Daily/plane500px.jpg
Ask me about my sig!
You don't enter a country you want to bomb and THEN try to board an airplane in that country. If you entered, you leave the bomb in a major intersection (times square). And if you want to use an airplane, you sneak on in a different country from which you fly to your target.
Think 2 steps ahead before you post? Fail.
Nobody ever got groped for driving a Ford.
Yes, communist Cuba is easier to travel into and out of with respect to getting scanned (they can't afford the scanners if they want to), or groped, they don't, unless you give them damn good reason to. Yes, I know it's "harder" for US people to travel to Cuba, but you should try it sometime...
It would surely be a hit with the geeks if you made tin foil suits to go with those hats, especially because they would be obviously practical, vindicating the paranoid people's longstanding actions of wearing metal clothes!
Or you could just release the design under GNU and let people make their own.
Pilots should go through the same procedure as everyone else because otherwise all a terrorist would need to do would be to impersonate a pilot and skip the checks.
Now whether the checks are useful in the first place is a different discussion.
Any time you make exceptions to security you weaken security.
Honestly is seems rather easy to initiate some sort of terrorism. The fact that these things just don't ever happen to me is evidence that either these people just don't exist or that there is massive surveillance. It could be both. The Beltway sniper, allegedly John Allen Muhammad, and one minor, Lee Boyd Malvo, successfully terrorized the entire DC region. Two guys with a rifle and an old car. Oklahoma City Bombing, supposedly McVeigh - one guy with a truck and fertilizer. In real war people are immensely creative and can figure out several kinds of attacks even against a fully armed, alert and trained army, as Iraq shows anyone. How easy is it to simply scare millions of civilians in the US, who are constantly being warned, scared, and made paranoid by the media and government anyway? I think the fact that it is never done is simply evidence there are no such people. There are no terrorists. What there is, is OIL and money, and a global financial crisis of this system that just does not work, and some excuses to shore up the US Dollar with lots of free oil supplies is desperately needed. This was foreseen long ago, that is why Iraq has been wanted since Bush Sr.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
Considering the graphic tools available and the routines for image manipulation,
why is it not possible to build routines into the imagers to
1. Isolate the body from the background color.
2. Recolor the objects found on the body.
3. Change the body image to the background color to obscure it.
4. Reveal only the the offending objects?
(I am not a coder of any sort, so I my opinion is suspect as always)
If you have to strip naked when you go to the doctor, there's something wrong and you should get another doctor.
That depends entirely on what the doctor is doing. A dermatologist might very well need to see every inch of you. If you have a surgery under general anesthesia, I can almost guarantee you are going to be naked on the operating table because the last thing you want while coding is a doctor trying to remove clothing instead of actually saving your life. If you are female and going to the OB/GYN, you are certainly going to be naked from the waist down. Same for a guy who gets a prostate exam.
Would you like to come up with another stupid sounds bite? Oh wait...
The US hasn't really had any significant experience of terrorism. ... We didn't find it necessary to strip-search everyone who went into a hotel, or onto a train.
I'd like you to point out even a single example of anyone being strip searched to board a train or enter a hotel in the US. What exactly is your point?
The politics that would come up as a consequence to Israeli-inspired interrogations to all US passengers would be quite an event.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
If a terrorist successfully impersonates a pilot, they don't need to have anything on their person. They have hands on the flight controls and thus can crash the plane. Your life is, in a very real way, in the hands of the pilots on a plane. If they steer the plane to crash, it'll crash the automated systems can't override them. As such it doesn't matter if they also have a knife or something like that because they have control of the plane anyhow.
So the security check for pilots isn't the same as regular people. For them it is an identity check, you need to make sure they are who they claim they are. That makes sense, and is done as far as I know, probably by the airlines themselves. However once identity is established, further checks are stupid.
It would be like the Secret Service checking the Marine guards for weapons. Of COURSE they have weapons, that's the point. What you check isn't if they have a gun, you check to make sure they are who they are supposed to be.
So check the pilot's identity in any way useful, do whatever is needed to make sure they are the person they claim to be. However don't be stupid about the rest. They are the pilot, you have to trust them. If they cannot be trusted, I don't want their hands on the yoke no matter how sure you are they don't have nail clippers or shampoo on their person.
If the goal is to accomplish a slowdown: they should all arrive for their flights 4 hours early wearing 70 different pieces of metal in various forms and slow down the x ray machines and metal detectors. Those are the bottle neck.
Bring a bag of various oddly shaped pieces of metal which aren't sharp or pointy, wires, and a collection of modeling clays, pizza/bread doughs, and white powder cooking ingredients.(in their original packaging)
Hell, bring a collection of sex toys while you're at it.
The entire day is going to be a complete bust. No one is going to risk being put on the no fly list. No one wants to be the nail which stands out.
Nobody ever got groped for driving a Ford.
You my friend, have never driven a sweet, tricked out Mustang.
The day millions of morons miss their flight!
You're kidding yourself if you think struggling against these policies screws over the TSA. Joe Numbskull will still be paid for his 8 hours. If you miss your flight because you decided to revolt, well that's your fault too. I have never had to fly anywhere yet, but im being rational here. Reading about these horror stories makes me just as against these policies as the next guy. However, i am not going to fight them the day of my flight. The airline doesnt care if im in my seat or not. They will leave without me. I probably wont be entitled to a refund either if im found to be "revolting against procedure." Be smart people...attack the policy maker not the enforcement/messenger.
Someone here suggested that "people need to get over being seen naked". I can't find that comment to respond to it because it has (rightfully) been modded into oblivion, so I'll post this as a general response: some of us don't care about being seen naked. Hell, if people are so concerned that I might be smuggling a bomb under my penis (it's not *that* big), I'd go naked all the time; I don't care. The only thing that would bother me is the cold. What *does* bother me is that there are serious health concerns with the scanning machines. I don't know about you, but I've known cancer patients. I've seen some die. It's not pretty, and we shouldn't have to sacrifice our liberty or our health just to FEEL "safe". If anyone needs to "get over" something, the original poster needs to grow a pair and stop being so scared that he's willing to sell out his own country and sacrifice his health to FEEL "safe".
Nathan's blog
I always politely but firmly decline the "offer" to use the scanner.
Technical issues aside, security is based on people, on human intelligence. The person doing the pat down can talk to me all they like and if they have any common sense at all will quickly conclude I'm harmless.
Long before 9/11, I took a memorable trip to England. My passport had a woman's name on it, the picture was of a woman, but it still had an M on it. The person carrying it looked like a tall, skinny girl (with a funny-looking little thing between her legs if she took her clothes off). Nobody gave me a second glance.
The trip back could have been interesting, since my passport still said M, but my body was now right. I was still sitting down very carefully, so I got stinking drunk on the flight back and slept most of the way...
...opting out by not flying? http://www.amtrak.com/ or, 1-800-USA-RAIL
Anyone want to buy a lead codpiece? It protects you against the scanner *and* the TSA gropings!
Honestly, I really don't care if some stranger I'm never going to know sees a scan of my body. I would, however, be put off by a physical pat down. Sadly, there are some sick and angry people out there who do try to blow up planes from time to time. I have no desire to either die in a terrorist attack or endure a lot of hassle just to fly, from the airlines, the TSA, or passengers pissed off at the TSA. I'll be doing a lot more driving I think. Once you factor in all of the time for security, driving doesn't take all that much more time for most of my travels. Bye bye friendly skies...
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
look this guys name up. He and his buddies are benefiting financially from the naked scanners and prison security additions.
I love the idea, but question whether these national boycott days actually do anything. People tried it for gasoline, walmart, etc.
Instead, how about telling your representative in Congress how much you hate the idea of scanning under the clothes? They are the only people who have power over this stuff. Just send them a quick email using the form: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
I just emailed my airline expressing my concern of the scanners. If enough of their customers start telling them they don't want these, the airlines, who are in a relatively high position of authority to negotiate with the TSA, will try to change policy. People being annoyed, humiliated, and pissed off is not good for business, and the airlines know it will hurt their bottom line.
if the government wants the airlines to fail so badly then why not let them?
don't fly if your job doesn't demand it. drive, take a bus or a train if your lucky. let the airlines die.
again there is no one holding a gun to your head telling you that you must fly.
Why would they pat down the pilots? If the guy flying the plane wants it to crash, it will just crash. He doesn't need nail clippers.
Decaffeinated coffee is kinda like kissing your sister.
This type of activity will only hurt ourselves as it will make one of the busiest traveling days of the year even slower for us. The TSA employees are there the same number of hours regardless. Talk to your elected representatives, instead.
I guess I should get one of these for the enhanced pat-downs: http://www.nuttybuddy.com/
why do they scan the pilots, he is the one flying the plane, why would he need a weapon if he was going to hijack it? also he wouldn't need a bomb as he could just fly into something... scanning them does seem illogical
Good point above. I do not think it is a good idea to protest during Thanksgiving travel days. It is probably by design, but that might have an opposite effect.
As much as I would like to protest myself, I would not do that that particular time -- I would have to deal with TSA first, and then in-laws at Thanksgiving dinner... I'm not sure what would be worse.
Every time I see something like this, I can't help but think of a quote from Benjamin Franklin:
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
You're playing their game when you call it a "virtual strip search". It isn't a "scanner", it isn't "virtual", it's an honest-to-goodness strip search. There isn't some computer looking for contraband, there is a real live, flesh-and-blood high school dropout looking at your actual naked body.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This is a full body X-Ray, emitting ionizing radiation.
read about it before your next flight!
and be glad you still have the right to opt-out..
We do still have freedom of speech right?
Why? Because the hole in our security that the terrorists identified and used was that heavy aircraft make excellent kinetic strike warheads. In order to exploit this, they must obtain control of the aircraft. If we isolate the flight crew, this is no longer possible. The button further ensures that no relationship with the pilot can be used to leverage control, even to the point of flying over a certain area at a certain time.
The end result would be a security state not unlike that prior to 9/11; very low risk of hijacking, because the rewards are also very low.
What pisses me off the most is the government's presumption not that the best solution would be found in crushing the liberties of US citizens, but that their idea is that any solution was to be found there.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I do not fly anymore, because from what my friends tell me, if a TSA agent did some of the things that are patently criminal to half the guys crotches and ladies breasts, I would give the individual a knuckle sandwich.
After which they arrest me, I would try to do the same to the pompous judge who fined me.
There is absolutely no way I am going through a body scanner, unless they put a bullet between my eyes.
Then they can willy nilly my corpse through the thing as many times as they want.
-Hack
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
Well, at least now we can opt-in to get a 'reach around' while good old Uncle Sam is continuing to bugger us all!
Were he alive today, even Johnny Wadd would have to be impressed by Uncle Sams performance and staying power.
Hhmmm...I think I just figured out were all of that blocked/filtered 'male enhancement' spam gets rerouted to...Washington, D.C. ;-)
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Are you allowed to just walk naked through the metal detector?
Here's the scenario I'm picturing. Since I'm already being asked to take off my shoes, belt and other metallic items and put them into a bin that goes through the x-ray, why not just all my clothes?
It should then be fairly easy for security to tell if I'm hiding something. And since I'm 6'4", 450 lbs[1], haven't showered for a month (not to mention the areas I can't quite reach), it'd make one hell of a statement at the airport.
Go on - you lift up my slabs of flesh and fat and examine between them. I suspect you might find my long dead hamster, Dino, and some left over pizza from yesterday. Also, I'm gay[2] and a knismolagniac[3], I'll make sure I've taken plenty of Viagra before getting in line.
[1] Not 450 lbs
[2] Not gay
[3] I hate being tickled
We need volunteers to:
1) stand at the TSA line and hand out leaflets explaining why the TSA is sucks.
2) get interrogated by TSA officers and removed from the airport.
3) try to fly and find they're on the no-fly list.
4) sue.
And people to fund this effort.
How we know is more important than what we know.
a United States Senate candidate that actually read the health care law
This is the key. The actual law was not about universal health care. So calling the GP's candidate "the insurance industry lobby's lap-dog" is a bit off the mark here.
Cheers,
Next Wednesday, the US Senate's Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security is holding a hearing. Contacting a congresscritter can sometimes be more useful than ranting on the Internet (only sometimes, of course).
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=AviationOperationsSafetyandSecurity
The chair is Sen. Byron Dorgon (dorgon.senate.gov; ph: 202 224-2551) - I suggest you call and suggest that this issue show up on the agenda, no?
For DC locals:
Jena Longo - Democratic Deputy Communications Director, (202) 224-8374
Nov 17 2010 10:00 AM
Russell Senate Office Building - 253
I'm flying next week and intend to go for the pat-down.
When they start groping me, I'm going to moan like I'm REALLY enjoying it. When whoever is doing the groping is done, I'm going to ask the person if I can see them again and tell them how cute they are.
Sexual harassment goes both ways.
At the risk of giving anyone ideas, how would these pat downs and skin level x-rays stop a bomber who has swallowed his bomb? He's presumably a suicide anyway, so why wouldn't he/she? And when the TSA thinks about this, do we get full CAT scans and invasive body cavity searches next?
The average worker would take home more money if his government didn't have to finance the scanners/cameras/wars with his tax dollars.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
We nerds have a responsibility to keep this quiet so that the wonderful future will happen. One where the metrics off all Hollywood stars and public figures body metrics are public knowledge through leaked files online and the metrics of anyone you want to know more intimately are available for $200 a pop.
Imagine all the websites that will pop up comparing peoples bodies. You know there will be sites comparing male stars packages and the T&A of women. Every time they get on a flight people will be comparing images and noting who is gaining and losing weight and who has had augmentation surgery. Who was pregnant and now no longer is... natural or abortion, I can already hear the gossip...
The government can't even design and adopt a proper electronic voting system (conflict of interest for political people selected for their ability to lie and cheat), they sure as heck won't be able to keep this data private very long. There will be leaks. Then the job will be subcontracted to the lowest bidder. Then the government will have budget trouble and relax the rules allowing this data to be sold. Then it's only a matter of time until the prices go down.
Imagine all the virtual reality sex, and the robot sex that is going to happen. There is no way to use this technology and prevent that future so it's unpatriotic to alarm the pubic. And if you don't care about keeping the public calm then your an anarchist and should think of the sex bots! For the sake the of the future sex bots we need to keep all this quiet...!!!!
This Christmas, we're returning from Europe to visit the family in New Zealand.
We deliberately take the slow flight (12 hours longer in total), rerouting through China than through L.A.
And the same for the return trip - in fact, even worse delays coming back.
All I can say is - never again. NEVER will I ever step foot again on U.S. soil - too many fucking stupid roll-over sheep there, and that's coming from a "certified sheep-shagger". What's more, I personally have a minor conviction from 12 years ago that no one else gives a shit about, but I know for a fact that the U.S. (unlimited stupidity) will rip me a new asshole for if I try to "transit".
It WAS a nice country you had there for a while. Shame something stupid happened to the majority of its citizens.
What about my rights?
And what rights are you talking about, then? The right to be a chicken-shit coward? Why don't you just stay at home, instead of risking your precious life and health by being close to all those people who could be carrying LETHAL VIRUSES !!!!!!! OMG !!! I demand that everybody on my flight be wrapped in saran wrap so they can't infect me. What about my rights?
Fuck - you're just pathetic. Personally, I would rather fly on an aircraft without YOU. So get off my plane, you fucking jack-ass.
For years, people flying to the USA have been treated as criminals when they entered the USA, with questioning at the home airport, scanners, photos taken, fingerprints taken, several times questioning by assault-rifle carrying border patrols what the F*** you're doing in the USA, laptops searched (and taken), camera's searched, shoes that have to be taken off, belts that have to be taken off, no water you could take with you on board, you have to register on a website which costs 14 euros if you want to be left in....do I need to go on?
Now, the USA citizen gets what others have been punished with for years. I'm glad the USA citizen finally experience this and hopefully they'll realize what kind of crap they have forced upon foreigners for years. Because, make no mistake: we in europe now have to get new passports because the USA demands passports with biometrical information. The USA demands that people boarding for the USA in europe are questioned by a security officer who asks questions like "Who packed your bag" and if you answer "My wife" he'll respond with "Do you trust your wife?". What the **** is that kind of shit?.
I do remember the days when I was boarding for Amsterdam on a greece island and all passengers were in a single hall, security was as tough as "Oh is that your bag? Looks ok, carry on!" and everyone had a great time. Did anything ever happen on one of those flights? no.
Never underestimate the relief of true separation of Religion and State.
If you're not a trained and licensed x-ray tech, you have no business operating a radiation emitting device on humans. It's probably even illegal in NJ and other states. See http://www.state.nj.us/dep/rpp/tec/tchist.htm
A high school diploma is barely enough to qualify you to grope my balls (unless you're really cute), let alone operate a potentially hazardous imaging device.
If TSA agent forces child to go thorough a scanner, doesn't that break the child porn law? Aren't TSA agent who is "watching" nudity of a child consider as breaking that law? Child Porn law does not permit ANY exclusion or exception, not even for any federal employees... but low ranking TSA employee is allowed?? Where is the justice?
Have the local police arrest the TSA agent that sexually assaults you. With enough arrests, the TSA agent population will be low enough that this crap will stop.
As soon as you provide a list of terrorists discouraged from boarding planes in the first place because of elevated security policies.
I'd say as a liberty-minded fiscally conservative citizen, it's DHS (and the scanner mnfrs) that have the burden of proof.
We *the taxpayers* are paying their bills, we're not subjects. Where is their proof of efficacy and justification for existence?
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Seems to me we have our passenger "bill of rights" (not about this, but about not being bumped, delays, etc.) primarily because the folks who make the laws fly a lot.
But they're all OK with this (naked/radiation vs grope)?
What if scanner pictures of congresscritters started appearing on the web? Or even convincing fakes.
I don't have much body modesty, but would feel pretty invaded (and pissed off) if it happened to me. I would guess that most congress folks have more body modesty, and would be even more pissed off - and they make the laws.
So, given that the TSA isn't actually deleting all the photos, and there are already incidents of TSA agents snapping photos of the screen with their cellphones, isn't it just a matter of time until something like this happens?
Israeli type behavioural profiling would probably even catch a pilot with legitimate credentials, who was planning to take aplane down.
We need to stop looking for prohibited objects and start looking for behaviours.
Nearly anything can be used as a weapon, so the logical endpoint of prohibiting objects is that everyone will have to fly naked and not bring anything with them on the plane.
There are however only a limited number of ways that people who are planning to do something bad can behave, and these behavioural signs are hard to conceal.
What these people are really after is some attention. How pitiful the lives of these juvenile attention seekers must be! That they would prefer to take their chances and allow terrorists wearing explosives to board an airplane rather than submit to a full body scan (the pat down is just the alternative to the scan) says it all. Obviously they must not have much of a life so that is why they want to inconvenience others who do. How sad!